THE President of the National Association
of Local Authorities (NALAG), Mr Ebenezer Akuoko-Frimpong, has described
President John Mahama’s nominee for the position of Minister of Local
Government and Rural Development, Mr Akwasi Oppong-Fosu, as the best person
suited for the job.
He described Mr Oppong-Fosu as an achiever
who had gone through the mill of almost every aspect of the local governance
structures to become the Head of the Local Government System (LGS) for four
consecutive years.
Mr Akuoko-Frimpong was reacting to comments
by a former President of NALAG, Mr George Kyei Baffuor, who claimed that the
President’s nominee did not have the wherewithal to deliver.
In the Wednesday, January 16, 2013 edition
of this paper, Mr Kyei-Baffuor, who was mistakingly described again as Member
of Parliament for Asutifi North, was quoted as saying that he doubted if the
President’s nominee would be able to rise to the occasion.
But in his reaction, Mr Frimpong disclosed
that Mr Oppong-Fosu had been District Secretary for 10 years during the
military era headed by former President J.J. Rawlings and was also made to
continue as District Chief Executive for another eight years, when the country
entered democratic regime because of his achievements.
He added that the nominee had used his rich
experience gained over the years to steer the affairs of the LGS from 2008 to
date and stated that he was not surprised because the nominee served as a
Deputy Minister of Local Government and Rural Development during the Rawlings
Administration.
Mr Akuoko-Frimpong said through the
instrumentality of Mr Oppong-Fosu, over 2,000 staff were recruited to beef up
the human resource capacity of the metropolitan, municipal and district
assemblies (MMDAs) as a result of gaps identified during a nationwide human
resource audit of all MMDAs.
Mr Oppong-Fosu also served the United
Nations as an Advisor on Local Authorities; became the Chairman of the Economic
Management Community of African Caribbean and Pacific Local Government Platform
in Brussels, Vice- President of the International Union of Local Authorities
and the President of African Union of Local Authorities.
Mr
Akuoko-Frimpong said other achievements of the nominee at the LGS included the
operationalisation of the composite budget which had been on the drawing board
for several years as well as facilitating the building of the human resource
capacity through training and other sensitisation programmes.
“Currently, the service has its own scheme
of service, human resource policy, conditions of service and has streamlined
the reporting relationships in the MMDAs, all in an effort to fully implement
administrative decentralisation”, he added.
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